


trial by fire

by sapphfics



Series: fire and ice [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/F, Season/Series 08, Winterfell, also....jon/dany never happened, and yes the opening quote is from asoue because the dedications kill me every time, let’s pretend s8 is a thing and this takes place around mid-season finale time, the title is a bit...literal....but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: Daenerys finds her in a crowd of hundreds, yet she feels as though she is alone. Sansa is standing in the field where she and her siblings had once played in as children, if they were ever really children, watching the men attempt to quench the flames. There is nothing she can do to help them.Or: Sansa and Daenerys whilst Winterfell burns.





	trial by fire

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Nox (NoxWrites) for the inspiration and Erica (insatiablygaydesire) for the encouragement <3

“No one could extinguish my love,  
or your house.” 

— Lemony Snicket

* * *

Daenerys finds her in a crowd of hundreds, yet she feels as though she is alone. Sansa is standing in the field where she and her siblings had once played in as children, if they were ever really children, watching the men attempt to quench the flames. There is nothing she can do to help them.

 _At least I am still alive,_ Sansa thinks. _At least Cersei’s men did not get me. I will never be a prisoner in King’s Landing again._

She breaks away from the crowd, from her guards. She glances towards Arya and Gendry, who seems to be holding hands, though they are unaware of it. She is glad that her sister has found someone who will love her.

 _No one has ever married me for love,_ She reminds herself. _No one will ever marry me for love._

“Sansa!” Daenerys is running towards her, her hair tangled, her dress partially ripped. “I...I am glad that you are alive.”

“Of course I am,” Sansa responds, not surprised. She is no longer a ghost, not yet dead before her time like Lyanna. She is a survivor’s survivor. One day, after the war, she will tell her story of her survival and she wonders if they will believe her. “I am glad to see that you are, too.”

“Sansa, please believe me when I tell you that I had nothing to do with this,” Dany tells her. It’s strange to hear another person say her name without them also wanting to use her as a puppet. “My dragons are still in mourning for Viserion, they barely lasted the flight here. Besides, I am not my father. I do not make a habit of burning our allies’ strongholds.”

“I saw them, your dragons.” Sansa says. “I think...I think they knew something was wrong. One of them was carrying children and servants out of the castle and to safety. Drogon, he - did you ask them -“

“No,” Daenerys says, truthfully, sounding surprised and proud. “I did not get to see them before I was evacuated. I was not afraid. Fire cannot kill a dragon, you know.”

Sansa thinks back to the songs. She remembers them still. The only songs she has ever heard about dragons were ones of fire and blood, of death and destruction. Old Nan told tales of Targaryen tyranny. Septa Mordane teachings of the life before Robert’s Rebellion, of how awful everything was. In truth, she had always hated those lessons, preferring songs about love and family and honour and duty. She is her mother’s child, it is true. She knows now that she is simply so very lucky to know Daenerys, to truly believe that she has the best intentions, that she will put fix the world, and to live in a time where the Targaryens that would seek to do her and her’ family harm are all dead.

Life is not like a song, after all.

“I am sorry about Viserion,” She tells her. “My direwolf, Lady, was executed when I was younger. I know that it is not the same but...” She does not say when she was a child, because the girl who grew up on songs and hope for the future died with Lady, died the day Joffery took off her father’s head, died with Robb and her mother and Rickon, died with Margaery.

“It was not your fault,” Daenerys reminds her. Sansa wishes she could bring back the dead. Wishes she could help her, somehow. “It was The Others. I am sorry that happened to you. If I may ask, what did Drogon do?”

“He...he saved me,” Sansa tells her. She is not used to being saved. There are scorch marks on her dress, bits of burned flesh on the bottoms of her shoes. For a second, she almost allows herself to smile. “Cersei sent her men after me, to take me back to King’s Landing, I think. I watched him as he burned them all.”

 _They can come and take me,_ she had told Brienne. How foolish she had been to believe that she was safe,. That she could ever be safe whilst Cersei is still alive. She is not her sister, she cannot master a sword, she never could. All she has ever had is her mind.

_But I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell._

“I will kill them all,” Daenerys tells her, exultingly. “Just as I swore. I am going to break the wheel and restore peace to this land.”

It feels strangely intimate to have these words said in a place where only she can hear them. The last time she ever stood this close to someone was when she was with Petyr in the Godswood.

“You and your dragons saved my brother, you and your dragon saved me,” Sansa tells her. “And now, you offer to end every enemy I have ever had. How will I ever repay you?”

As Drogon lands behind Daenerys there is less noise than she would imagine. Despite herself, she smiles at him. She has always wanted to see a dragon, had borrowed Tyrion’s books about them when she could.

“Hello Drogon,” She says. “Thank you, for saving me.”

Drogon lets his tongue hang out of his mouth because he cannot smile back, and Daenerys moves to his side.

“You can pat him, if you want,” Daenerys tells her. “I think he has grown fond of you.”

Strange, Sansa thinks. I thought I only had that effect on truly despicable men.

“I ask for nothing in return,” Daenerys tells her. “Not the North either. It was never Jon’s to give away, and I understand what it is like to be robbed of your birthright.”

Sansa stokes Drogon’s scales and feels Daenerys’ hand brush her own and shivers. It is not from the cold.

“Thank you,” Sansa tells her. “I…”

She is cut off by Daenerys turning away from her and towards the sky.

“Viserion?!”

Sansa watches helplessly as Viserion reaches Winterfell. She braces herself to watch her home get completely destroyed.

Instead, Viserion breathes blue flames that quench the flames entirely and then flies away without looking back at his mother.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry if the ending made no sense but let’s face it we don’t know how ice dragons work and it’s fanfiction, I can do what I want. Anyway! i hope you liked it! <3


End file.
